1. Effective Career Services Practices for Retention in Higher Education
Darrin L. Carr, PhD HSPP Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology & Mental Health Counseling
INDIANA UNIVERSITY–PURDUE UNIVERSITY COLUMBUS

2. SECTION 1
Background

3. Intervention Outputs & Outcomes (Peterson & Burck, 1982)
Outputs: short - term change measures
Career thoughts
Career decidedness
Vocational identity
Career decision making skills
Outcomes: long - term change measures
Persistence (retention)
Satisfaction (job, major, life)
Length of time employed / unemployed

4. Intervention Outputs & Outcomes (Sawilowsky, 2009)
Effect Size
Describes amount of change between two measurements (e.g., pre- intervention vs. post-intervention)
a measure of practical significance
Cohen’s d is one method
Description d
Very small
.01
Small
.20
Medium
.50
Large
.80
Very Large
1.20
Huge
2.00

5. Do career services work?
BACKGROUND
Do career services work?
Ryan (1999) conducted a meta-analysis (study of past studies)
62 studies covering 7,725 participants since 1950
number of sessions M = 7.49
Effect sizes range from .21 for CDM self-efficacy beliefs to .63 for vocational identity (M = .34)
Group (d = .55), class (d = .43), individual (d = .41) self-directed (d = .23)

6. Mean Effect Size vs. Number of Sessions (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000, p

7. What works in career services?
BACKGROUND
What works in career services?
Ryan’s meta-analysis found five key components (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000)
clarify career and life goals in writing
provide individualized feedback (e.g., test results)
provide current information on risks and rewards of options
include models / mentors who demonstrate effective career behaviors;
develop support networks for pursuit of career aspirations

8. Mean Effect Size vs. Number of Critical Components (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000, p. 745)

9. Career Services at Three Occasions
SECTION 2
Career Services at Three Occasions

10. Three Occasions for Intervention
High School
Transition to College
College Work Experience

11. iGrad Career Exploration Day
MHC grad students in career counseling worked with ~130 “at risk” HS students over past 3 years
3 hours (motivational panel, hands on campus tour, & assessment workshop)
45 min individual interpretation at HS, including personalized career information & career planning
Outputs
Vocational identity, Self-knowledge, option-knowledge, & decision making skills
Outcomes (in progress)
What is the shorter-term impact on high school retention?
What is the longer-term impact on post-secondary matriculation?

12. 2015 iGrad Outputs Vocational Identity (MVS, n1 = 55, n2 = 52, M days = 35)

13. 2016 iGrad Outputs Vocational Identity (MVS, n1 = 42, n2 = 38, M days = 78.26)

14. iGrad Outputs Vocational Identity
2015
Pre M (SD)
Post M (SD)
Difference
t-test p
Vocational Identity
10 (4.46)
11.67 (5.313)
+1.673
2.84 (df = 54) d = .34
.006
Occupational Information
1.40 (1.065)
1.89 (1.548)
+.491
2.487 (df = 54) d = .37
.016
Barriers
2.53 (.959)
2.84 (1.214)
+.309
1.759 (df = 54) d = .28
.064
2016
Pre M (SD)
Post M (SD)
Difference
t-test p
Vocational Identity
10.82 (3.94)
11.95 (4.28)
+1.13
2.05 (df=37), d=.27
.047
Occupational Information
1.11 (1.23)
1.74 (1.25)
+.63
2.57 (df=37) d=.51
.014
Barriers
2.97 (.854)
2.82 (1.14)
-.15
.845 (df=37)
d=.15
.403

15. College Prep & Transition
Estrada Hamby (2014) 8 year longitudinal study
quantitative & qualitative
13 HS students 150% poverty level in 9 to 12 grades
treatment 6 sessions with 80 hour internship
measured pre/post, years, and years
vocational identity
Holland themes
perceived impact of career exploration
interaction of VI, Holland type, & life events
by end, 7 graduated and 3 w/d & re-enrolled

16. THREE OCCASIONS
Discussion 1
What pre-admission career development efforts are being made on your campus?
How do you partner with other offices, for example:
admissions?
summer bridge or other transition programs?
What outputs are you measuring?
What outcomes are you measuring?

17. Three Occasions for Intervention
High School
Transition to College
College Work Experience

18. Credit Bearing Career Course
32% of respondents offered for-credit career course (NACE, 2010)
55% for schools of +20K students, rarer for less than 10K (NACE, 2010)
© 2017, Kendall Hunt.

19. More Effective Career Courses (Reardon, 2015, p. 338)
THREE OCCASIONS
More Effective Career Courses (Reardon, 2015, p. 338)
Structured approaches (Smith, 1981)
Individual career exploration as the focus (Bluestein, 1989)
Five components (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000)
clarify career and life goals in writing
provide individualized feedback (e.g., test results)
provide current information on risks and rewards of options
include models / mentors who demonstrate effective career behaviors;
develop support networks for pursuit of career aspirations

20. Effects of Career Courses on Outputs & Outcomes (Reardon, 2011)
THREE OCCASIONS
Effects of Career Courses on Outputs & Outcomes (Reardon, 2011)
Literature review of 82 studies 1976 to (68% used control or comparison groups)
61 on outputs*
55 (90%) positive gains
6 (10%) no gains
21 on outcomes*
19 (91%) positive gains
2 (9%) reporting no changes
* 6 measured both outputs & outcomes

21. Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
Procedure
Used archival data from 1091 UG students between 1994 & 2002
Stratified random sample according to year of matriculation
550 completing 3 cr hr career course vs students not
Excluded enrolled not graduated & C+ or below in course (~10% enrolled)

22. Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
χ2 = 15.47, df = 1, p < .001

23. Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
Input characteristics (upon admission)
academic aptitude (SAT-V & SAT-M)
high school academic performance (GPA)
Process characteristics (acquired during education)
career course (Y / N)
academic performance (cum GPA at graduation)
# of major changes
# of course withdrawals
gender (for possible gender effect)

24. Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
Regressions of Input vs. Process Models
Input Model
Process Model
SAT-V
# of withdrawals
High School GPA
# of major changes (+)
SAT-M
College GPA
Career course Y / N
Gender
Predicted 3% of variation in retention
Accurately predicted 58.4% of dropouts and 95.4% of graduates.
χ2 = 21.7, df = 3, p < .001
χ2 = , df = 5, p < .001

25. Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Career Course Impact on Graduation (Reardon, et al., 2015)
Recommendations
Offering withdrawal counseling
More general, less major specific career courses
Closely monitor grades

26. Discussion 2 Does your unit offer career courses?
THREE OCCASIONS
Discussion 2
Does your unit offer career courses?
How is it structured and delivered?
Is individual career exploration the focus?
Does it contain the Brown & Ryan Krane’s five components?
What outputs are measured?
What outcomes are measured?

27. Three Points in Time for Intervention
THREE OCCASIONS
Three Points in Time for Intervention
High School
Transition to College
College Work Experience

28. Federal Workstudy (CAPSEE, February 2015)
THREE OCCASIONS
Federal Workstudy (CAPSEE, February 2015)
Participants:
3% more likely to complete a bachelor’s degree within six years
2% more likely to be employed six years after initial enrollment
positive impacts strongest for lower-SAT-scoring and lower income (5% to 7% more likely to complete bachelor’s in six years than similar non-recipient)

29. Discussion 3 What work experiences are available on your campus?
THREE OCCASIONS
Discussion 3
What work experiences are available on your campus?
Does career services coordinate these? Another office?
What outputs are measured?
What outcomes are measured?

30. References
Bluestein, D. L. (1989). The role of career exploration n the career decision making of college students. Journal of College Student Development, 30, 111 – 117.
Brown, S .D ., & Roache, M. (2016). The outcome of vocational interventions: Thirty (some) years later, Journal of Career Assessment, 24(1),
Brown, S. D., & Ryan Krane, N. E. (2000). Four (or Five) Sessions and a Cloud of Dust: Old Assumption and New Observations about Career Counseling. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.,) Handbook of Counseling Psychology. New York: NY; Wiley.
CAPSEE (Center for Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment). (February 2015). The federal work-study program: Impacts on academic outcomes and employment. (ED555433).
Estrada-Hamby, L. S. (2014). A longitudinal study describing the career identity development low income and first generation college bound students. University of North Texas: Retrieved from:
Florida State University. (2014). SDS 3340: Introduction to Career Development: Retrieved from
National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE, January, 2010) career services benchmarking survey for four-year colleges and universities. Bethlehem, PA: Author.
Peterson G. W., & Burck, H. D. (1982). A competency approach to accountability in human service programs. Personnel & Guidance Journal, 60,
Reardon, R. C., Folsom, B., Lee, D., & Clark, J. (2011). The effects of college career courses on learner outputs and outcomes: Technical Report No Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL. Retrieved from:
Reardon, R. C., Lenz, J. G., Peterson, G. W., & Sampson, J. P. (2017). Career development and planning: A comprehensive approach. Kendall Hunt. Available:
Reardon, R. C., Melvin, B., McClain, M., Peterson, G. W., & Bowman, W. J. (2015). The career course as a factor in college graduation. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory and Practice, 17(3), doi: /
Sawilowsky, S. S. (2009). New effect size rules of thumb. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 8(2), 597 – 599.
Smith, G. E. (1981). The effectiveness of a career guidance class: An organizational comparison. Journal of College Student Personnel, 22, 120 – 124.

31. Thank you! Darrin Carr, PhD HSPP
Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychology & Mental Health Counseling Director of Clinical Training